Identification and Characterization of Unreported Penicillium Species in Korea

Doo-Ho Choi1   Young–Guk Kim1   In–Seon Lee2   Seung–Bum Hong3,*   Jong-Guk Kim1,*   

1School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
2Department of Food Science and Technology, Keimyung University, Daegu 42601, Korea
3Korean Agricultural Culture Collection, National Academy of Agricultural Science, RDA, Suwon 54874, Korea

Abstract

Fungal species belonging to the genus Penicillium are indigenous to a wide range of natural environments. Since the first published reports detailing the discovery of Penicillium, new species have been identified in various countries, including Korea. We present here a full characterization of five species of Penicillium that were previously unreported in Korea. Based on the morphologic characteristics and sequences of genes encoding fungal β–tubulin and calmodulin, we identified five Penicillium species, including P. hetheringtonii, P. sublectaticum, and P. jacksonii, which have been unrecorded in Korea, and confirming P. maximae and P. cremeogriseum, as the endophytic fungi isolated in Gyeongsang province, Korea. In this article, we provide detailed morphological descriptions of these fungal species.

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.Maximum–likelihood phylogenetic analysis of combined sequence data of and genes from known species of the genus . The sequence of was used as an outgroup. Bootstrap scores >50 is presented. The number of nucleotide substitution per site was denoted by the scale bar. “T” identifies the type strains of the given fungal species.